30-May-14 – She was “a little nervous” that the Champagne bottle would not break, but former White House Social Secretary Desireé Rogers made contact on the bow of Chicago’s Classic Lady on Thursday.

Now the chairman of Choose Chicago, the non-profit organization that markets Chicago as a visitor destination, she and CEO Don Welsh were on deck to welcome the 98-foot-long, 157-ton tour boat to the Chicago River, where it will help the city reach an ambitious tourism goal.

Chicago’s current goal is 55 million visitors per year. Welsh says the city will “probably” reach 49 million visitors in 2014.

Chicago’s Classic Lady joins a fleet of tour boats operated by Holly and Bob Agra, owner of Chicago’s First Lady Cruises. CFL has been the official river cruise partner of the Chicago Architecture Foundation since 1993 and the boat was added to accommodate expanding demand.

(Above) Lynn Osmond (far left), Desireé Rogers, and Don Welsh await a christening ceremony on board Chicago’s Classic Lady on Thursday. (Click on image to view larger version.)

More 1,600 cruises will originate from CFL’s Riverwalk dock east of Michigan Avenue this year, according to Lynn Osmond, president and CEO of Chicago Architecture Foundation.

She says the cruises are not only popular with tourists but with CAF docents who will guide as many as 299 passengers of Chicago’s Classic Lady on a tour of the Chicago River and its architecture. Of the foundation’s 450 docents, she says 125 are – or aspire to be – river cruise docents.

“It’s really the pinnacle,” says Osmond. “Can you imagine giving a 90-minute tour from memory pointing at buildings behind your back with an engaging commentary the whole time?”

Osmond recalls the first river cruise was in 1983, organized for a rug company that had chartered a yacht and wanted a CAF docent to be its tour guide.

Although Chicago’s Classic Lady has done private charters for the past week, its first official day with the general public is May 30. Four trips are scheduled that day, starting at 10 a.m.

(Above) Chicago’s Classic Lady on Chicago River east of Wells Street Bridge on Friday.